1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a hard disk drive and, more particularly, to a hard disk drive having an improved structure to reduce the damage to a head or disk caused by the direct transfer of an external shock or vibration to a base of the hard disk drive.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0121196, filed on 10 Dec., 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Hard disk drives (HDDs) are memory devices that are generally used to record and reproduce data by converting digital electric pulses to a magnetic field that is more permanent. HDDs are generally composed of a combination of electronic parts and mechanical parts. Because of their ability, among other things, to provide fast access to large amounts of data, HDDs are widely used as auxiliary memory devices in computer systems.
With the recent increase in TPI (tracks per inch) and BPI (bits per inch), the data storage capacity of HDDs has increased. Therefore, the application field of HDDs has also increased. For example, a compact HDD having a diameter of 0.85 inches, i.e., a size similar to a coin, has been developed recently and is expected to be used in mobile phones in the future. While a HDD has various uses, the HDD is more susceptible to vibrations and shocks compared to other memory devices. Various efforts have been directed towards studying and remedying this problem.
In the structure of a typical HDD, the HDD includes a disk pack, a head stack assembly (HSA) which reads data from the disk while pivoting upon a predetermined pivot shaft above the disk, a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) which has a printed circuit board (PCB) on which most circuit parts are mounted and which controls the above-described elements, a base on which the above-described elements are assembled, and a cover covering the upper portion of the base. The disk pack has a disk to record and store data.
A plurality of screw holes to which a plurality of screws are screw coupled, are formed at both side walls of the base. The screw holes are used to couple the HDD to a bracket of a notebook PC when the HDD is installed in the notebook PC. Alternatively, the screw holes may be used to couple the HDD to a jig of a test equipment when performing a shock and vibration test.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional HDD being assembled to a notebook PC. Referring to FIG. 1, an HDD 101 is installed in a notebook PC (not shown) by passing a screw 103 through a hole formed in a bracket 105 of the notebook PC. In particular, the screw 103 is coupled to a screw hole 104 formed in a side wall of a base 110 of the HDD 101. Because both the screw 103 and the base 110 where the screw hole 104 is formed are made of metal, when an external shock or vibration is applied to the notebook PC, the shock or vibration is directly transferred to the base 110 via the screw 103. This shock or vibration that is transferred to the base 110 may damage a head (not shown) or a disk installed on the base 110.
Typically, HDDs must pass a shock or vibration test to guarantee stability against a shock or vibration. FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating another conventional HDD that is coupled to a jig of a shock and vibration test equipment in order to perform a shock and vibration test of a HDD. Referring to FIG. 2, for a shock and vibration test, an HDD 201 is fixed to a test equipment that applies a shock and vibration. A screw 203 is screw coupled to a screw hole 204 formed in a side wall of a base 210 of the HDD 201. Because the screw 203 fixing the HDD 201 to a jig 207 is directly coupled to the screw hole 204 of the base 210 of the HDD 201, all the shock or vibration applied by the test equipment is transferred to the HDD 201.
Thus, as described above, in a conventional HDD, because the base of the HDD is directly coupled to the bracket of the notebook PC, any shock or vibration applied to the PC is directly transferred to the base through the screw hole formed therein. This shock or vibration may damage the head or disk of the HDD. Furthermore, as also described above, the same problem may occur when the base of the HDD is directly coupled to the jig of a shock and vibration equipment.
The present disclosure is directed towards overcoming one or more of the shortcomings associated with the conventional HDD.